Earlier Paintings

Red Creek Laundromat

Scorpio

Scorpio

48″ X 36″ oval

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I debated with myself about whether or not to post some of the following very early paintings. Some might be seen as morbid or offensive. It does not give me pleasure to offend people, but I ultimately decided to include all of these because each one is an honest expression of a feeling that I was trying to express at the time.

I did not search around for something to paint in order to become an artist. Rather, I started painting only because I needed to paint these particular images, because they expressed something that I was unable to express in any other way at the time.

When I was young and went through my first heartbreak, I was certain that no one had ever in the history of the world felt the loss of a love as profoundly as I had. I was sure that I would never again meet anyone as intelligent, as perspicacious, as beautiful and truly loving as, uh… what’s her name? Sadly, almost all of us have to deal with profound loss multiple times in our lives. If we are good to ourselves and those around us, and do not shut down or do something stupid, we learn to accept the loss and to treat it as an opportunity to grow in a new direction. Life offers much more complexity than we would design for ourselves in our youth.